Cable and satellite television operators are able to offer large number of linear channels to subscribers. Currently, one way for viewers to select a channel to watch is to sample linear program content by cycling through the channels one at a time. Channel cycling gives the viewer the opportunity to select a channel based on the audiovisual appeal of the linear program content, but has its drawbacks. Cycling through linear channels takes increasingly longer as the number of channels grows. Further, at the time any given channel is reached, the channel may be showing something other than the linear program content, such as a commercial or a breaking news report, which requires the viewer to continue without seeing the regularly scheduled program content for that channel or wait until the linear program content resumes.
Another way to select a channel to watch is to scroll through program content descriptions in a channel guide. Instead of individual channels, most channel guides present the viewer with program content descriptions for multiple channels and, often, multiple time slots. The tradeoff is that channel guides convert the audiovisual experience of the linear program content into an intellectual exercise dependent upon very brief written summaries of linear program content.
A recent introduction is topic-oriented “mosaic” channels that combine links to several different television channels. The links are static thumbnail images (e.g., a still photograph or a network icon). The viewer can cycle through the links and go directly to the channel using the link. The mosaic channel may play the audio for the selected channel but offers the viewer no information about the linear program content on the unselected channels in the mosaic.